CVM Grad Students Set to Compete in Research Symposium

Courtney Rousse Sparks, one of six CVM students to present work at this year’s NC State Graduate Student Research Symposium.

March 13, 2018

The College of Veterinary Medicine is well represented at this year’s NC State Graduate Student Research Symposium, a showcase of outstanding graduate-level work from across the university.

At the symposium, open to the public from 1 to 5:30 p.m. March 21 at the McKimmon Center, NC State graduate students present posters representing a range of research across disciplines, including agriculture and life sciences, design, humanities and engineering. Students are judged by faculty on quality of research and communication skills.

Six CVM students will present work this year: Takiyah Ball, Laura Minnema, Courtney Rousse Sparks and Amanda Ziegler, all in the comparative biomedical sciences graduate program; Amber Reed, in the microbiology program; and Brittany Vallette, in molecular biomedical sciences.

The research reflects the diversity of scientific exploration conducted every day at the CVM, including understanding and combating chronic pain, antimicrobial resistance and bacterial infections, as well as neonatal and neurological diseases. Many of the projects also have great potential to impact treatment approaches from humans suffering from similar conditions.

Winners by discipline are announced at the end of the symposium, starting around 4:15 p.m. Participants are nominated by graduate program directors. The symposium is sponsored by the NC State Graduate School and the Graduate Student Association.

Last year, comparative biomedical sciences student Tyler Allen, who graduates in May, won 1st place in the life sciences category for research that determined therapeutic stem cells leave the bloodstream in a different way than previously thought.

For more information about the symposium, including a schedule and compilation of research abstracts, gohere.